-This is the new patient? -Yeah.
So he's a fit guy, minimal medical problems.
He and his wife both tested positive for coronavirus
and he was admitted late last night.
-On Friday, February 27th, my partner called me
to let me know that one of the patients
we had here in our intensive care unit
was tested for the coronavirus and turned positive.
At the time, I was home with my family
and I remember feeling my heart thump
when I heard those results.
Yes, this is what we've been prepared for and ready for,
but now, it's here, not just on our shores,
but in our intensive care unit, in our community.
Was he on an ACE inhibitor, did you notice?
-I don't believe so, but I'd have to
check and verify. -Yeah; I'll look.
Here, at Evergreen hospital, we've had, and I still believe,
now, have the largest cohort
of critically ill coronavirus patients in the United States.
The way this started was, earlier in the week,
several of our ICU physicians had started to get suspicious
that we were dealing with a condition that was different
than what we were used to.
We're used to seeing certain patient patterns,
but these patients weren't getting better
and we weren't able to identify what was causing their illness,
so we started to get very suspicious.
So, immediately, we started to put them on appropriate
isolation while we got testing
and we were one of the first here in the Puget Sound
to identify a coronavirus-infected patient.
-He looks great. -He looks awesome.
-Yeah. -I'm so excited.
-I know. -This is like.
-Feels good.
One of the key things that we did early
was that we had single-physician teams
that were managing these patients,
so we were able to start to see clinical trends
coming out of this large cohort of patients.
We then took that information and shared it, not only
with the other ICU medical directors in the Puget Sound,
but teamed with the CDC on phone calls
with other ICU clinicians throughout the nation
to share what we've learned and share what we've seen.
-And he's been sitting at 40% and 30 liters high flow.
His voice is getting stronger.
He feels stronger. He was communicating.
He got to speak with his wife.
-I love it. -Yeah.
And then.
-So, here at EvergreenHealth, we use various types
of personal protective equipment.
That includes N95 masks, simple masks, gowns, and gloves,
as well as PAPR and CAPRs.
So one of the things that we do
is that she can see it from the inside,
but we look at each other to identify that,
indeed, it's active and she's got air flow.
If it's not active, you would see a red light here.
It initially was red and changed to green.
And, Tammy, you can see the green on the inside?
-Yes. -And then, finally,
we clean our hands and put on gloves.
And then, all of the doors here are closed,
so, she's now ready to go into her room.
What has been incredibly successful here is,
instead of having just single rooms,
which is the normal for airborne precautions,
we've actually converted entire floors and units.
So the entire floor, all 20 beds of our ICU,
are able to take an airborne precaution patient.
That's because our engineering was ready.
We knew which floors we could do this on
and so it was an easy transition,
as opposed to a scramble of where these patients could go.
And then, finally, testing.
Here, at EvergreenHealth, we are now testing for the coronavirus
and the key is that we can get immediate testing
with a turnaround of a result within a matter of hours.
That is a game-changer.
Some of the other things we hadn't anticipated
was how to manage some of our end-of-life pathways
that are so well-built, but not when you have
to eliminate visitors from being at the bedside.
So, for example, we had a patient's family
that felt it was very important
to have last rites performed by a priest.
We had to figure out how to bring a priest in,
including his Bible and his holy water,
in order to do what was important,
but maintaining his safety,
as well as the safety of his congregation,
after he's left our unit.
So the community can be part of helping the healthcare systems
by flattening the curve,
meaning slow down the spread of this virus,
keep it from getting to our parents and our grandparents
and other populations that are most vulnerable.
So, wash your hands.
Stay home.
If you are sick, don't go hang out with your grandparents.
Keep the people you love protected
by making good decisions at home.